Support group invites students to learn about intuitive eating

Mississippi State University’s Student Counseling Services and Department of Health Promotion and Wellness will be hosting sessions of Food Freedom throughout the spring semester.

The campus support group, Food Freedom, was created for students experiencing challenges with nutrition and eating behaviors. Meetings will be held throughout the semester at 4 p.m. in room 231 of the Colvard Student Union.

The group was formerly known as Lotus Group when the Department of Health Promotion and Wellness founded it in 2019, and it has been recently rebranded as Food Freedom since collaborating with Student Counseling Services.

Santee Ezell, Health Promotion and Wellness director, said the group was formed in response to students’ concerns about diet culture, self-

This semester, University Recreation at Mississippi State University will be hosting Outdoor Adventures (OA) trips to three scenic locations in Alabama

OA trips will include backpacking in the Sipsey Wilderness, caving the Tumbling Rock Cave and climbing Sand Rock.

Annie Bills, assistant director of Outdoor Adventures, member services and marketing at the Sanderson Center, said that OA’s goal is for students to connect with the outdoors and other students.

“It’s some good bonding time. Both in the car, on the drive there, as well as around a campfire making some s'mores,” Bills said. “It’s going to be a good time. (The students) can kind of acceptance and body image. After conducting focus groups and surveys in 2018, Ezell said a need was identified.

“In 2019, the Registered Dietitian decided to incorporate a support group for women,” Ezell said.

Ezell said the reception of the Lotus Group was positive.

“When Lotus Group was established, we had diverse women from different walks of life that were passionate about body image, self-love, acceptance and cultivating self-identity,” Ezell said. in their transition to life in the U.S. Amber Mullins, an intern for Starkville Strong, spoke of the ongoing housing crisis across the Starkville community.

What originally began as a women’s support group is now open to all MSU students.

“We’d like to see our group increase in attendance and encourage student feedback,” Ezell said.

Members of Food Freedom will walk through an intuitive eating workbook under the guidance of facilitators.

“There are housing complexes that are actually dangerous,” said

Mullins, a senior English major.

Herrington added to Mullins' comment and said many members of the Starkville community with fixed incomes struggle to find housing that is affordable, habitable and available. Starkville Strong is collaborating and working with locals to make change at a faster rate.

Rebekah Carruth, an active volunteer with Starkville Strong, said homelessness continues to be an issue for citizens. Misinformation interferes with the reality of the housing crisis in Starkville.

The Rumie app offers buy, sell and rent services exclusively to university students across the Southeastern Conference.

Tanner McCraney, cofounder of Rumie and graduate student at the University of Mississippi, said he created the app to give students a unified and safe platform to exchange used goods.

“What we noticed was that college students were using like Instagram and Snapchat as a means to buy, sell and rent on campus because Facebook Marketplace is scary for college students,” McCraney said. “People don't want to meet up with a stranger in strange places.”

McCraney in 2021. Phillips said the idea for the app came from his own experience with scams on Facebook Marketplace.

“I tried buying a Nintendo Switch, and as soon as I tried to buy it, this guy basically told me 'Oh, yeah, you can pay through PayPal' and like, basically ... everybody on Facebook Marketplace seems like they're trying to scam you,” Phillips said. NUTRITION, 2

Patrick Phillips, cofounder of Rumie and graduate student at Ole Miss, started Rumie with